Wrap-up (or, highlights for the lazy)

Rodeo Drive
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Dear readers please note: I just wrote this entire thing and then the computer had a spazz and I lost it. My celebratory glass of wine has become a commiseratory one. Oh well, here I go again...

Facts and figures:

• number of states visited: 12 - California, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia PLUS Ontario Canada, the District of Columbia and the United Nations territory
• number of states passed through on train but didn't set foot in: 8 -Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Connecticut, Rhode Island
• number of train trips: 16 - Los Angeles CA to Flagstaff AZ, Flagstaff AZ to Los Angeles CA, Los Angeles CA to Palm Springs CA, Palm Springs CA to Los Angeles CA, Los Angeles CA to San Jose CA, Emeryville CA to Chicago IL, Chicago IL to Grand Rapids MI, Grand Rapids MI to Chicago IL, Chicago IL to Ashland KY, Cleveland OH to Buffalo NY, Buffalo NY to Niagara Falls NY, Niagara Falls NY to New York NY, New York NY to Boston MA, Boston MA to Newark Airport NJ, New York NY to Baltimore Airport MD, Washington DC to New York NY
• other means of transportation: feet (I don't think they'll ever recover), bus, subway/urban trains, car, van, ferry, segway, horse & buggy, cable car, tramway, duck
• number of timezones: all 4 (the California Zephyr went through three)
• number of nights I paid for accommodation: 10 - thanks for five overnights on the train and my gracious, gracious friends
• pairs of shoes worn out: 1.5 - my red Chucks died in Chicago, their replacements are looking weary
• number of swims: 1 - hotel in Niagara Falls
• numbers of films seen: 6 - Vantage Point, Under the Same Moon, Zoned In, Old Man Bebo, Pierrot le Fou, Ironman
• number of shows: 1 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway
• number of tours: 12 - movie star homes, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, horse farm, Boston Duck, Amish farmhouses (x 2), Antietam segway, Gettysburg car audio, Washington Tourmobile, Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studio
• number of times I accidentally strolled past a jail: 2 - LA and NY
• number of pets met: 5+ - 2 cats, 3 dogs and a goldfish pond (although the cats were so large that maybe they should count as two pets each... apologies C & M)
• coldest: on the pier at Grand Haven MI
• hottest: pounding the pavement in Palm Springs CA
• rainiest: New York NY
• number of art galleries/museums: 17 - MOCA, Getty Center (Los Angeles CA), Art Institute, Field Museum (Chicago IL) Rock n Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland OH), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston MA), Historical Society, Civil War Medicine Museum (Frederick MD), Gettysburg Museum (Gettysburg PA), International Spy Museum, National Air & Space Museum, National Holocaust Museum, National Gallery of Art East and West (Washington DC), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMa, Guggenheim (New York NY) PLUS one zoo, one planetarium, and one aquarium
• number of books devoured: 3 - Tully, Crime & Punishment, The Pillars of the Earth; magazines: 6 - Empire, Entertainment Weekly (x 3), Rolling Stone, New York magazine; newspapers: 4 - San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, New York Times (x 2)
• number of cemeteries visited: 3 - Lexington, Cleveland, Arlington
• number of waterfalls: 2 - Niagara Falls NY/ON, Great Falls MD
• number of Great Lakes: 2 - Michigan, Erie
• number of oceans: 2 - Pacific, Atlantic
• number of battlefields: 2 - Antietam MD, Gettysburg PA

Beverly Hills City Limits
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Favourite moments/things

• on the freeway in LA with the top down (OK it wasn't quite summer-hot but it was sunny and fun, right Robin??!)
• cheap & tasty Mexican dinners... everywhere
• The Coast Starlight
• Point Lobos in the Bay Area - the wildlife and wild water were totally stunning (felt a bit like home but the trees were all wrong!)
• the conductor on the cable car in San Francisco heckling passers-by... then seeing ideologies clash on the waterfront (even though it meant I had to take a bus rather than a cable car on the way back)
• The California Zephyr: the Sierra Nevadas, the Rockies, the storm over the plains, the rivers, the deserts, the canyons, the everything!
• seeing Lake Michigan for the first time from the Hancock Observatory
• the Millenium Bean in Chicago
• seeing the cute reactions of inner-city schoolkids seeing dolphins perform at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
• standing under the Da Vinci horse in Grand Rapids MI
• the blossoms in Kentucky
• the Hendrix exhibit in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame
• seeing rainbows on Niagara Falls
• walking to Canada to see boths sets of Falls in their full glory
• taking the Boston Duck tour on Anzac Day and wearing a poppy I had brought from home, and Pop's battalion pin, never mind that no-one knew why
• driving an Amish buggy (and wondering about the man who had chosen as a teenager to leave the only life he ever knew) and then riding a segway two days later
• seeing Vermeers in Boston and Washington, and Greek vases I had studied in Boston and New York
• the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials
• Washington National Cathedral
• seeing a very small part of the Tribeca Film Festival
• Central Park and the Met
• seeing Saturday Night Live rehearsals
• seeing Godard at the Film Forum (something I totally didn't plan)
• seeing Terence Howard on stage and screen in the same week
• Times Square by night... tacky yet dazzling

Gettin my kicks on route 66
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Bests

• best shower: arriving in Chicago after two days on the California Zephyr
• best tacky souvenirs I just HAD to have: I Love NY T-shirt and mini Statue of Liberty
• best free newspaper: the Onion
• best soft drink: Dr Pepper (I'm addicted)
• best record store: Amoeba Music in Hollywood
• best skyline: Manhattan
• best night out: Chicago
• best moment that floored me: seeing my first view of the Grand Canyon
• best side-effects of a ridiculous amount of walking: calves of steel and a little weight loss :)

Fisherman's Wharf
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Well folks, that's pretty much all, except I'll add some more New York photos once they're developed. Watch this space for Europe coming soon.

A lot of kiwis aren't that interested in travelling to the US for a lot of reasons, but I have to put in a bit of a plug because I found it really great.

If I went back I would take Ken and a car and explore the National Parks; there's quite a lot to see that's not so easy to get to by public transport (eg. Mt Rushmore.) In saying that, everything I did was no problem.The trains are under funded, often late and not the quickest way of getting around BUT I highly recommend it. You see so much, you have so much room and can walk around, you meet realy interesting people, the rail pass is cheap... as long as you plan a bit and are prepared for a few delays it's really great. For women travelling solo I never felt unsafe or creeped-out on the train, not by a long stretch.

Sign outside the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls NY
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The cities all have interesting, different and diverse cultures. The galleries/museums are really great and generally less snobby (eg a map of highlights which works wonders when you don't have all day to explore a gallery.) If cities aren't your thing, the landscape is so vast and beautiful that there really is something for everyone. The people are really lovely and hospitable.

If anyone is even remotely contemplating a trip, please contact me for tips or to answer questions.

I would not have been able to do this but for the support,help and beds of some really great people, so I have to say a HUGE THANKS to the following people wíthout whom this trip-of-a-lifetime would not have been possible: Ken (for understanding), Mum, Dad, Katt, Mike, Carolyn, Robin, Chantal, Mike, Tasha, Bronwyn, Roger, Lisa, Rodney, Maquel, Deano, Genaea, Cathy, Derek, Sean, Lauren, Peter, Grace, Karl, Bev, Frank, Beverly, Connie... and everyone else who I've forgoteen or who hung out with me or gave me directions or helped me figure out the subway!

You don't see a signpost to a country every day
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I didn't mean that to sound like an award acceptance speech, I'm just super grateful is all.

Thanks for reading.

J x